Scientists exploring the Arctic were in for a surprise after discovering a perfectly preserved saber-toothed kitten.
The kitten has been mummified in the permafrost for 37,000 years ago, according to researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In their new study, published in Scientific Reports, the team has revealed unprecedented details of this long-extinct animal.
Despite having died during the last ice age, the three-year-old kitten’s head, forelimbs, torso, and paws were kept in near-pristine condition by the cold.
The team found that its neck was twice as thick as a modern-day lion cub’s.
Meanwhile, its jaw was specially adapted to hold its iconic cone-shaped incisors.
The scientists even discovered how the kittens ‘bean shaped’ toes would have helped it walk through the snow of the last ice age.
In their study, the researchers write: ‘For the first time in the history of palaeontology, the appearance of an extinct mammal that has no analogues in the modern fauna has been studied.’
During a 2022 expedition, scientists found the remains of the mummified kitten frozen into a block of ice in the Badyarikhskoe region in the Russian republic of Yakutia.
For unknown reasons, only the upper half of the body was found in one piece.
However, the kitten’s incomplete femur and shin bone were also found relatively intact nearby.
Although it isn’t clear how the kitten died, the researchers believe that it would have lived during a period called the Late Piocene during which Earth was covered in vast ice sheets.
Previous studies have found ‘numerous’ woolly mammoth bones in the soil of this area but this is the first time such a completely frozen specimen of any species has been found.
Lead author Dr Alexey Lopatin and his colleagues write: ‘Findings of frozen mummified remains of the Late Pleistocene mammals are very rare.’
Normally, the bones from animals from this period are scattered by scavengers and the elements, long before they can be found by scientists.
This means that we still don’t know much about the animals which walked the Earth during the last ice age.
However, thanks to this discovery, researchers now have a unique window into the development of this iconic species.
The saber-toothed kitten is covered with a coat of dark brown fur which the scientists describe as ‘short, thick, soft’ and is longer over its neck and back.
The kitten also has a short whispy beard growing around its chin and two rows of fine whiskers.
Comparing the mummified sabre-toothed tiger to a modern lion cub of a similar age, the researchers noted several obvious differences.
Most noticeably, the mummified kitten was significantly more muscular and had a ‘very massive neck’ and an unusual muzzle shape which is significantly wider than that of a modern lion.
This, and other key adaptations, are believed to have allowed the saber-toothed tiger to grow its massive fangs.
Dr Lopatin and his co-authors write: ‘One of the striking features of the morphology of Homotherium, both in adults and in the studied cub, is the presence of an enlarged premaxillary bone.’
This bone, which sits in the front part of the upper jaw, would have allowed the kitten to grow a row of large cone-shaped incisors.
However, this particular kitten was too young to have grown its impressive fangs as scans showed that it still had some of its baby teeth.
Additionally, the incredible preservation of this specimen reveals the interesting ways in which the big cat adapted to its frozen environment.
As well as a thick coat and small ears which help reduce heat loss, the sabre-toothed mummy had wide paws to spread its weight over the snow.
Likewise, the baby cat lacked carpal pads, pads of thick skin found at the back of the wrist joint, which scientists believe help to walk in deep snow.
This big cat, homotherium latidens, is the only species in its genus known to live in Eurasia during this time period.
Comparisons to species found in Spain suggest that it probably hunted big prey animals like aurochs and deer.
But finding this specimen so deep in Siberia suggests that they may have ranged much further north than previously expected.
For now, the researchers have only identified the most obvious and unusual features of the mummified cat but they are already planning more research to discuss the cub’s anatomy in much greater detail.
SABRE-TOOTH TIGERS DIDN’T GET THEIR FANGS UNTIL THEY WERE THREE
The sabre-tooth tiger may have been capable of slaying mammoths and rhinos, but it only had relatively small teeth until the age of three.
Research suggests that the animal’s impressively long, dagger-shaped teeth developed later in life than modern cats do.
But once they emerged, they grew twice as quickly as the lion’s, for example.
The sabre-tooth tiger, now more accurately known as the sabre-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, lived in North and South America until it became extinct 10,000 years ago.
The big cats are famous for their protruding canines, which could grow up to seven inches (18 cm) long.
Although well-preserved fossils are available to researchers, very little is known about the ages at which the animals reached key developmental stages and grew teeth, for example.
Researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina examined specimens recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
They used data from stable oxygen isotope analyses with X-rays and information from previous studies to calculate when the prehistoric cats’ permanent upper canines came through, as well as other growth events.
They believe that the cats got most of their teeth by 14 to 22 months, with the exception of their famous ‘fangs’.
The experts say the long teeth didn’t develop until the cats were around three years’ old, which is delayed in comparison to similar-sized living members of the cat family.
